Excellent news about Laurent Koscielny’s back injury

Laurent Koscielny’s back injury may not be as bad as first feared with Arsene Wenger explaining that the vice-captain ‘got a kick’ causing his back to cramp.

I have to admit, when I saw Kos land and immediately reach for his back I was worried that we were seeing a recurrence of the back problem that has caused him so much trouble over recent seasons.

Watching a number of replays, it was hard to see any significant contact from the AC Milan player with any part of Kos. At one point, a Milan hand seems to hit the defender’s back but not with any sort of force.

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

On first glance, then, it appeared his back just decided it didn’t want to play any more and that is always more concerning than most impact injuries.

Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“He got a kick on his back,” said Arsene Wenger after the game. “We don’t think it’s bad but he cramped up and he couldn’t go on.”

Koscielny now has plenty of time to rest and let it heal.

Arsenal have no match this weekend. They were due to play Leicester City but, this weekend, the Foxes are in some competition no-one has heard of so our game has been postponed. Then it’s interlull time again.

Kos has been called up for France for their friendlies against Colombia (23 March) and Russia (27 March) however Didier Deschamps is unlikely to take any unnecessary risks with the defender given his history. Should his back still be causing him a problem next week, expect the France manager to do the sensible thing.

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